The Emerging Legal Professions Survey (the Survey) was conducted by the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association (ALPMA) and the Centre for Legal Innovation (CLI) at The College of Law in January/February 2018. More than 180 individuals working in the legal industry, law firms and legal organisations in Australia and New Zealand took part in the Survey.
Some of the key findings from the Survey include:
- Legal business professionals (who are not lawyers but work in the legal industry) are having a significant impact on the delivery of legal services, but most law firms are not providing an inclusive workplace where these professionals can thrive.
- While lawyers and legal business professionals work together in the majority of organisations, they do not share the same employment status or career opportunities.
- Lawyers are more likely to be employed on a full-time basis than legal business professionals.
- Most legal organisations had defined career paths for lawyers but significantly fewer had them for legal business professionals.
- Lawyers were also more likely to have competency frameworks in place for their roles, to guide their career development and promotion, than legal business professionals.
- There are disparities between the areas identified as a priority for leadership and management in law firms and those being employed to implement them.
- There is broad recognition for the need for standards in new areas of leadership and management and similarly clear agreement on who should monitor, manage and implement them.